Two Bob's OH to AK 2016 - Ram + Hawk + Husky + Wing

[DYNOBOB]

Once on the Richardson, you're rejoined with the pipeline snaking it's way to Valdez.

Approaching Thompson Pass.

Thompson Pass

Valdez sign is 22 miles from town?

 

[DYNOBOB]

The Keystone Canyon area is stunning and the area approaching Valdez has a very unique feel, you can see glaciers and moss hanging from trees nearly in the same view.

Home tonight is the Bear Paw Campground. They have two facilities and we chose their adult campground which is a few blocks out of town and right at waters edge. FYI, rabbits are to Valdez as chickens are to Key West..

After we settle in, I doubled Dad back to town and we had dinner at the famous "Fat Mermaid".

View out the back door.

.

 

[DYNOBOB]

Wednesday Sept 7. Valdez to McCarthy. 180 miles.

Well thankfully we've seen the last rain of this trip. Yep, the last 12 days of this trip, from Valdez to Cincinnati, we won't see a drop! Things start out foggy this morning, but once the sun breaks thru Valdez comes alive. The dedicated fisherman from last night is back at it this morning...

We get another shot at Keystone Canyon and Thompson Pass with a bit more sun..

 

[DYNOBOB]

At Tosina we turn east on the Edgerton Hwy. At Kenny Lake you definitely want to fuel up, it's a 180 mile trip to return here from McCarthy and this is the last reliable fuel. The Edgerton is a nicely paved road.

The tiny villiage of Chitina is located at the confluence of the Copper and Chitina Rivers. It's here you turn onto McCarthy Rd and quickly realize you're heading into a remote area. The 63 miles from Chitina to McCarthy was the worst road we traveled by far on this trip. The first 3 miles from Chitina are bad, I was told that this is to discourage tourists from driving the road. The next 14 are chip seal pavement and not bad. The last 45 are rough and took 2.5 hours to travel. I've decided to stay on the Wing and run a slower pace in hopes of preventing tire issues on the truck. Had I been on the Husky it would have been ~1.5hrs. The future of the road is quite a debate among the locals... https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/article/rugged-mccarthy-road-gets-upgrade-amid-outcry-over-public-process/2014/08/03/

Right out of Chitina is a one lane cut.

At the top of the first hill you're looking north at the Copper River.

Right around the corner you're looking south at the Chitina River.

Even though it's a rough tedious road, it has some nice views and really feels like you're in "remote" Alaska.

 

[DYNOBOB]

The Kuskulana Bridge was a railroad bridge converted to single lane vehicle use when the track to Kennicott was abandoned.

An abandoned bridge.

Just up the hill I spotted a overgrown road and suspected it went back to the trestle.

Yep...

The road dead-ends at the Kennicott River with the town of McCarthy on the opposite side. The only way to town and to reach the Kennicott Mine 4 miles farther is a nice modern footbridge (that you're allowed to ride a motorcycle across!). There's parking along the river as a staging area for hikers heading for the mine or the glacier. While there are several places to stay just up the road, you can also drive down the river a bit and camp for free. The sound of the river is wonderful for sleeping!

The footbridge is in the background, and the Kennicott Mine is 4 miles off in the distance.

Glacier in the distance.

After we set up and grilled some burgers, I rode across the bridge to make sure the Wing fit between the barriers.

This was another "Top 5" place we stayed on the trip!

 

[Casa Escarlata Robles Too]

Looks like you finally got some nice color in the tundra.
Great scenery. Never made it to Valdez . Nice area.
Thanks
Frank

 

[62C20]

Fantastic trip report and beautiful photos. DYNOBOB, did you ever need four wheel drive during the trip?

 

[DYNOBOB]

Only once on the Cassiar when Dad did a U-turn to get a pic of a bear and got too far in the ditch.

.

 

[DYNOBOB]

Thursday Sept 8. McCarthy to Jack's house. 210 miles.

This morning we're blessed with beautiful conditions to visit one of the highlights of the trip for me, the Kennecott Mine. After breakfast, I load Dad on the back seat and we ride the 5 miles back to the mine. There are tour vans that will pick you up at the bridge, but this way we can control our schedule. Besides, I want a pic of my bike there... Prob haven't been many Wings back here.

The story of the Kennecott Mine is remarkable and a testament to "can do" determination. In the early 1900's this place was unimaginably remote, but men of ambition got it done and contributed a hugely valuable resource to the building of the country.. Great info on the NPS site here: https://www.nps.gov/wrst/learn/historyculture/upload/Kennecottbulletin.pdf

How it all started...
[SIZE=11.5pt]“Mr. Birch, I’ve got a mountain of copper up there. There’s so much of[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11.5pt]the stuff sticking out of the ground that it looks like a green sheep pasture[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11.5pt]in [/SIZE][SIZE=11.5pt]Ireland[/SIZE][SIZE=11.5pt] when the sun is shining at its best.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11.5pt]~ prospector Jack Smith to Stephen Birch, 1900[/SIZE]

Cool stacks!

Stacks are connected to this...

(It was really dark in here!)

 

[DYNOBOB]

That's a lot of mine tailings.

On the way back to the truck we walked around McCarthy a bit...

The Roadside Potatohead is a nice looking place that just opened in the spring.

Heading back to the bridge.

 

[DYNOBOB]

Our destination tonight is Jack's (Alcan Rider on ADVRider) house just south of Tok. We're getting on the road late and have 200 mile to go so we have to keep steppin'. McCarthy Road took a similar 2hrs to make it back to Chitina.

Almost to Chitina.

Along the Tok Cutoff

We make it to Jack's around 8pm where we made some dinner and conversed until midnight. We greatly enjoyed hearing stories from 50yrs of Alaska travel. This was absolutely a highlight of the trip for Dad and I.

 

[Casa Escarlata Robles Too]

I have enjoyed your trip from the first posting. It seems like each new post just gets better.
This last post of the Kennicott mine is great. Hard to even imagine how they got all that equipment/supply's there.
And that the mine really was running less than 40 years.
Great to see the NPS has control and keeps it is a preserved state.
Thanks.
Frank

 

[DYNOBOB]

No doubt Frank. There's one place that our tax dollars are well spent.

Wouldn't it be cool to know where all the Kennecott copper ended up. War effort in Europe, electrification of the country, early communication lines, "the Bomb", submarines, there's no telling...

.

 

[DYNOBOB]

Sorry folks, Photobucket has been down for the last 24hrs, hopefully they get their act together soon. For now I'm switching to my SmugMug acct.

 

[DYNOBOB]

Friday Sept 9. Jack's to Dawson City. 260 miles

Today was my second favorite day of the trip (northbound on Dalton was first). For the last several days I've been watching the forcast for the Top of the World Hwy and today looks like aces. It hadn't occurred to me a couple weeks ago when we skipped TOTW to get to Fairbanks quicker, but today we'll do the road going north with the sun behind us.

Before we take off I get some pics of Jack's famous road warriors. He has a 6gal aux tank that fits either bike and gives 500+ mile range.

...

One of the interesting stories Jack told was about how the 2002 Denali Earthquake shifted the Tok Cutoff road 23ft at the fault line. I was keeping an eye out to see if I could spot where it happened.

Per Wiki: The 2002 Denali earthquake occurred at 1:12 PM local time November 3 with an epicenter 66 km ESE of Denali Natl Park. This 7.9 magnitude earthquake was the largest recorded in the interior of the United States for more than 150 years. The shock was the strongest ever recorded in the interior of Alaska. Due to the remote location, there were no fatalities and only a few injuries. Due to the shallow depth, it was felt at least as far away as Seattle and it generated seiches on bodies of water as far away as New Orleans. About 20 houseboats were damaged by a seiche on a lake in Washington State.

Interesting how the pipeline survived... http://www.amusingplanet.com/2014/08...ived-2002.html

The Main Event today is the Taylor (TOTW) Hwy.

The next 6 hrs were a delight for the eyes!

 

[DYNOBOB]

We pull over in Chicken to make a sandwich and buy the sticker...

Back to that awesome road.

It's interesting, the TOTW seems to be about 50/50 gravel/pavement. It goes from pavement to gravel and back to awesome brand new pavement the last several miles to the border. On the Canadian side it returns to gravel until Dawson City. Even the gravel is not bad, in places I could run 60mph on the Wing.

Bye bye Alaska...

 

[DYNOBOB]

Dad way in the distance

Your camping options at Dawson City are the Yukon River Campground (primitive, pit toilets only) on the edge of the river opposite town or a traditional commercial place in town. We opt for the YRC and will take the ferry to town tomorrow. This turns out to be a very good call.

View of Dawson City across the river.

We had the 100+ site facility almost to ourselves so I got my second outdoor shower of the trip. It was a chilly 42degs out!

We made dinner and watched a movie until 11:30.

We've found out after the fact that we missed several opportunities to see the aurora borealis the last two weeks. With the trip winding down I figured I better stick my head out and see what I could see.

Jackpot! I grabbed the 16-35 lens and tripod and spent 30 minutes on the edge of the Yukon River freezing my butt off (it was 32F when I got back in the camper). If we'd stayed in town the shots would have been ruined with light pollution.

What a day for pictures this has been!

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[smlobx]

I'm really enjoying your trip with your Dad! The pictures are great.

We are planning our trip up there in '18 and one question I have is how much cash would you reccomend bringing? I would think that many places don't take credit cards but I don't know.
Thanks.

 

[DYNOBOB]

Actually you'd be surprised at the places that take cards. In fact, I can't think of anywhere that couldn't. Even out in the boonies where they're running on generators they must have sat links. But to your question, I hid $1200 in the truck and never needed it. Left home w/ $300 in wallet and used most of it.

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[Casa Escarlata Robles Too]

I knew from our 06 trip that credit cards wouldn't be much of a problem.
But we took about $1.000 cash and actually spent a good amount of it.
Campgrounds,food,ect. Used the credit card a good bit also.
There were ATMs around at banks,free standing. Not an issue.
One thing I do is before a trip I put aside $20 in 1s and some 10s and 5s
In a safe place than try to keep a supply as we go along. It's nice to have correct change for the "iron ranger"
Also I have made change a couple times in camps for fellow travelers who didn't have the right amount for the campsite.
There was a time that you could put money in the envelope and get change,not so much now.

Bob the aurora pictures are great.
We got to see the Clear Water SP camp in Delta,the night you were on your Dalton trip.

Thanks
Frank